Thoughts on the State Fair
So it's approximately 48 hours before I have to bid Sacramento friends and family (not to mention gorgeous weather!) adieu for a while for Philly's city streets, snow, and school.
Yet, at the State Fair yesterday with Yi, Don, and Steve, I saw one of the most inspiring images I've seen in a while. I'm a sucker for exhibits and was ohing and awwing at a black bear cub when I turned around and saw a much less coveted exhibit, the tortoise exhibit. Now, there are those people who find tortoises and their close relatives turtles adorable, but generally more in picture than in life. There really ought to be nothing more boring than a few hardshelled, slow, herbivores crawling around in a fake 2x2 enclosure, especially when a bear cub playing and raptors grooming their feathers are vying for your attention. Yet when Steve and I stepped over to look at them, there really was something remarkable about these animals. Although 2 of the tortoises seemed completely content basking in the artifical light, there were two determined to escape their styrofoam hell. One anxiously clawed onto the edge of a corner for dear life, while another found a more industrious and perhaps more altruist approach: clawing a hole through the spraypainted styrofoam. I didn't stay and see whether or not their efforts were fruitful because that wasn't the point. Isn't that type of determination and will it's own reward?
Yet, at the State Fair yesterday with Yi, Don, and Steve, I saw one of the most inspiring images I've seen in a while. I'm a sucker for exhibits and was ohing and awwing at a black bear cub when I turned around and saw a much less coveted exhibit, the tortoise exhibit. Now, there are those people who find tortoises and their close relatives turtles adorable, but generally more in picture than in life. There really ought to be nothing more boring than a few hardshelled, slow, herbivores crawling around in a fake 2x2 enclosure, especially when a bear cub playing and raptors grooming their feathers are vying for your attention. Yet when Steve and I stepped over to look at them, there really was something remarkable about these animals. Although 2 of the tortoises seemed completely content basking in the artifical light, there were two determined to escape their styrofoam hell. One anxiously clawed onto the edge of a corner for dear life, while another found a more industrious and perhaps more altruist approach: clawing a hole through the spraypainted styrofoam. I didn't stay and see whether or not their efforts were fruitful because that wasn't the point. Isn't that type of determination and will it's own reward?